With at least 11 still missing, no known cause of rig explosion

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Photo: AP

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In this Wednesday April 21, 2010 photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, a fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon burns 52-miles southeast of Venice, La. Helicopters, ships and an airplane searched waters off Louisiana's coast Wednesday for missing workers after an explosion and fire that left an offshore drilling platform tilting in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Lloyd) less

In this Wednesday April 21, 2010 photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, a fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon burns 52-miles southeast of Venice, La. Helicopters, ships and an ... more

Transocean Corp. said 11 people are still missing from a drilling rig that experienced an explosion and fire late Tuesday night about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a news conference today, officials said they still do not know for sure the cause of the accident, but it appears to have been a blowout, where hydrocarbons travel up the subsea piping to the rig in an uncontrolled manner.

Adrian Rose, Vice President of Quality, Health, Safety and Environment for Transocean, said the rig had stopped drilling and was in the process of getting the 18,000-foot-deep well ready for production. It appears hydrocarbons were able to travel up the drilling riser — a pipe that carries mud and other drilling fluids back to the rig on the surface — and ignite.

“So this was a blowout?” asked a reporter.

“Basically, yes,” said Rose. “But we still don't have all the facts and this is just an assumption we're making.”

Firefighters continued to battle the oil-fueled blaze aboard the Deepwater Horizon this afternoon. The fire has ebbed and flowed throughout the day on the rig, which appears to be listing at about a 10 degree angle, Rose said.

Of the 126 workers onboard, 17 were injured and flown by helicopter to onshore hospitals. Seven were considered critical. One is in a burn unit at The University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile while nine have been released from that facility and others. The location of the remaining seven is unclear.

Four workers were moved to another drilling rig in the area while 94 are en route by boat to Port Fourchon, La. The Coast Guard said they were expected to arrive by 8 p.m.

The semi-submersible rig is owned and operated by Swiss-based Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, and has been under lease by BP since 2007. Transocean has a large operation in Houston.

Greg Panagos, a spokesman with Transocean, said workers on the rig were evacuated “within minutes” of the fire breaking out. Among those still unaccounted for, Panagos could not say how many were Transocean employees.

Rose said 40 of the workers were non-Transocean workers. BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said his firm had six employees on board who have been found safe. Halliburton said it had four workers on board who are all accounted for.

Transocean is setting up bases in New Orleans and Port Fourchon where families can get information and be reunited with loved ones.

“Our greatest responsibility is the safety and well-being of our crews,” Rose said. “The ongoing care and support and counseling of families is also on our minds.”

In a recent fleet report, Transocean said Deepwater Horizon entered service in 2001 and can operate in 10,000 feet of water and drill to a depth of 30,000 feet. The company has 14 rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rebuilding the same rig today would cost between $600 million and $700 million.

During the news conference, Coast Guard Rear AdmiralMary Landry said she believed the rig had been inspected three times since the beginning of the year.

The incident appears to be one of the worst offshore fires in the Gulf of Mexico in several years.

Major offshore fires are relatively rare and can be caused by any number of events, from improper welding to blowouts of flammable hydrocarbons.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service has documented 450 fires and explosions associated with offshore oil and gas activity since 2006. All but one was classified as “incidental,” meaning the event resulted in less than $25,000 in damage. Most of them occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

The agency considers a fire or explosion catastrophic when it results in damage of more than $10 million. Twenty six events were classified as minor during that time period because they caused less than $1 million in damage. Only one incident in 2006, in the Gulf of Mexico, was considered major because it cause more than $1 million in damage.

Since 2006, 29 people have died working off shore in the Gulf of Mexico. The number of deaths from fires or explosions was not immediately available, but safety memos from the U.S. Minerals Management Service indicate at least two people have died from fires since 1990.

The Coast Guard will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the blaze with BP and the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the Coast Guard said.

The incident comes only weeks after a major fire at a Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington killed six people and five years after a massive explosion at a BP refining facility in Texas City claimed the lives of 15 workers. The accidents have put the safety record of the oil and gas industry in the spotlight.

“Every time an incident like this occurs, we ask ourselves what, can we do better,” Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas industry trade group, told reporters in Houston this morning after hearing about the incident offshore Louisiana. ”Among the oil and gas industry, any injury or fatality is too much.”

Crane operator Dale Burkeen was among the 11 reported missing. At his home in Philadelphia, Miss., relatives stood guard by the phone today for hourly updates from a Transocean spokesman. By evening, each of the updates had been the same, relatives said: search crews were still looking.

A woman who identified herself as Burkeen’s aunt said the wait was grueling for Burkeen’s wife and six-year-old son.

“We don’t know anything,” she said. “The little boy is not doing well. We just told him there was a fire on daddy’s rig and he was missing, but there were people looking for him and we hoped they would find him soon.”

The risks of Burkeen’s job, which he had held for more than a decade, were known but unspoken among his relatives. He had never had a close call before, his aunt said.

“On a job like that, you always worry,” she said.

After a frantic phone tree formed around 6 a.m. with news of the explosion and Burkeen’s absence, relatives flocked to support the crane operator’s wife and son.

“We’re just all together and trying to think positive and pray and call everybody we know to send out prayers for us,” the aunt said.

The family had heard that a vessel was missing from the rig, along with the 11 people. They held onto hope that once the boat was found, Burkeen would be aboard, and safe.

“He liked his job and he’s a very strong person,” said his aunt. “We feel he’ll be found along with his co-workers.”

Transocean has set up a phone number for family members of the workers onboard the drilling rig. They may call (832) 587-8554 for any updates or information.